Responding to Senate Minority Leader Tom
Daschle's November 20 statements claiming "Rush Limbaugh
and all of the Rush Limbaugh wannabees" are responsible for
violence and threats of violence, Amy Ridenour, President of The
National Center for Public Policy Research in Washington, made
the following response:

"Public officials that believes
that frank discussions of public policy issues are tantamount
to incitements of political violence should resign. They are
unfit for office.

"Talk radio is America's town hall.
It has, and deserves, an honored place in our national discussions.
Talk radio hosts, listeners and callers are the backbone of America
-- an asset, not a threat. Talk radio listeners are truck drivers,
parents, mothers, doctors, teachers and soldiers. They are young
and old; rich and poor; powerful and weak. They are the people
Daschle claims to represent. They are not dangerous. It is not
irresponsible to discuss public policy issues within earshot
of them.

"Daschle complained that talk radio
creates a 'foment [sic]' that 'pretty soon becomes physical rather
than verbal.' He complained that he and other policymakers get
threatening mail.

"Senator, if you can't stand the
heat, get out of the kitchen. There probably isn't a talk radio
host or opinion columnist in America who hasn't had a threat
or nasty e-mail. The difference between them and you is that
they don't whine. Oh, and another difference: they don't feel
threatened by diversity of opinion."

Ridenour is president of The National
Center for Public Policy Research, a non-partisan Capitol Hill
think-tank established in 1982. She has been a guest on hundreds
of talk shows since the 1980s.